Latin America Open to ATSC, State Official Says
Attending CES gave the State Department a “level of credibility and timeliness” it had lacked as it tried to get Latin American powerhouse economies to weigh the ATSC standard for DTV, an agency official told the first meeting this year of the Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy Thursday. Things may not be looking up in the Southern Hemisphere for the U.S.- backed standard, but they aren’t looking down either, said David Gross, U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy. The meeting also covered cross-border spectrum issues.
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CEA organized a half-day program on DTV at CES with senior government and industry officials, drawing hundreds, Gross said. He recently went to Chile and Argentina to pitch those nations on ATSC, vying for adoption with DVB and a so- called “resilient” Brazilian-Japanese hybrid standard. Among officials Gross visited in South America some had been at CES, creating a context for DTV discussions, he said. Chile was “about to make the wrong decision… they are rethinking this” following his visit, Gross said.
State doesn’t see Chile deciding on DTV before April, Gross said. News reports and State interactions with Chilean officials suggest a March decision, but the government may need time to evaluate a DTV report by academics scheduled to arrive late in March, he said. There’s less pressure in Argentina for a quick standard choice, leading Gross to expect a decision by year-end. The U.S. has a “surprising advantage” as it tries to get others to adopt ATSC because it goes all-digital in 2009, he said. Europe may not meet its 2012 deadline with new countries joining the EU, he added.
Cross-border spectrum problems are sinking public safety agencies near the Canadian and Mexican borders, said Ralph Haller, vice chairman of the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council. He cited reasons for hope in some areas, such as adopting “common nomenclature” for radio channels, but warned that agencies now are hobbled without “properly working agreements.” Haller cited a “tremendous number of cases” of Mexican radio stations going up along the border and messing with public safety communications, for example.
Negotiations are underway on a few bands, Haller said. Regarding Mexico, formal pacts cover most VHF/UHF spectrum, and talks continue on 800 MHz reconfiguration, though FCC “reshuffling” of 700 MHz has stifled a likely agreement that will need to be reviewed, he said. Interference resolution procedures are “working pretty well” with Mexico, though. San Diego will vacate channel 15 for public safety use after the DTV transition, and Los Angeles, which reserves channel 16 for public safety, wants to add 15, but that requires Mexican cooperation, he said. A regional weather phenomenon called “ducting” carries U.S. signals far beyond their normal range, Haller said.
NPSTC is encouraged by a recent Canadian white paper on reconfiguring 700 MHz there to make it identical to the U.S. arrangement, so a common band plan is expected, Haller said. U.S. agencies at the border are “essentially at a standstill” with 700 MHz use. On 800 MHz, they are “getting pretty close but there’s not yet a formal agreement.”
A new issue is paralyzing U.S. agencies near Canada: The so-called above-30 MHz agreement between the U.S. and Canada is showing its age and vagueness, he said. Each government has the right to accept or reject use of frequencies above 30 MHz across the border, and rejections of applications filed by U.S. border agencies have risen from about every six months to every month. Canadian authorities are using a proprietary propagation model that the U.S. lacks, so NPSTC is urging Canada to provide common software for U.S. agencies to test interference and anticipate Canadian authorities’ reaction. The group is happy to have a new peer in Canada with which it plans to collaborate and share information, he said.